


Cycle

by Ayearandaday



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ben Is Sweet, Cramps are evil, Devoted Reylo, F/M, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Rey Needs A Hug, Roommates, That's what Ben is for
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-10 05:02:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,198
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19900264
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ayearandaday/pseuds/Ayearandaday
Summary: Rey's cramps are particularly vicious. Her roommate is determined to make her feel better.





	Cycle

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by you-know-what. Sorry, guys, I needed a distraction.

Life is full of painful experiences. Wisdom teeth surgery. Giving birth. Cramps. While Rey successfully survived the first and avoided the second, she couldn’t do much about the third. Sad truth of life is that it is cruel, particularly to women. Perhaps mother nature is just as chauvinistic as everybody else.

Rey curls into herself on the couch willing the little vicious loth-cat inside her uterus to either stop or finally claw its way out, the movie long forgotten. Her painkillers still haven’t kicked in. It’s so naïve of her to think that this time she won’t need them. Silly little Rey.

She hears the door open. She doesn’t get up. It’s probably just Ben and it hurts too much to move anyway.

It should be weird to have a guy for a roommate, especially if he is straight. Somehow it doesn’t. Ben is neat and quiet and tends to think before he speaks. Sure, he has his antisocial tendencies but then again it’s probably the reason why they work so well together. And even though Rey kinda low-key hates all the men right now (well, not Finn, he is sweetheart, and probably not Poe given he won’t talk), Ben she doesn’t. He drops his bag, toes off his shoes and paddle his way to the living room. He comes to the halt and Rey can practically hear him frown.

“You OK?”

“Yeah, it’s just…” Her guts choose exactly this moment to twist themselves into a knot. She winces.

“Stomach flu?”

“Cramps.” Surprisingly Ben, unlike most men, doesn’t look disgusted, just sympathetic.

“That bad?” How do you explain _a man_ that five days of each month you spend feeling a rusty teaspoon mercilessly scrap your intestines? So Rey simply nods. Speaking takes too much energy anyway.

“I know something that may help,” he says and as soon as this phrase leaves his mouth Rey wants to scratch his eyes out.

“If you say sex, I’ll strangle you,” she hisses out a promise. Ben looks appropriately terrified.

“I was going to suggest heating pad and chocolate, though _that_ might be helpful too,” he says gingerly. Rey can’t find it in herself to feel embarrassed as a new contraction seizes her.

“Chocolate?” she says dumbly.

“Yeah, you know, endorphins. Like sport or sex. Or ice cream.” Ben looks at her speculatively. “Or any food in your case.” She feels slightly guilty. Her roommate means well.

“Why heating pad?” Rey asks less aggressively. Ben blinks.

“To make your muscles relax of course. My mom did that all the time. Haven’t you tried it?” The thing is that Rey has never had a mother or a mother figure or even a close female friend. Maybe Rose, but they’ve never discussed anything related to their cycles. Everything she knows she’d learned through experience or internet. Apparently even Ben knows more about female body than she does. Rey shakes her head, her cheeks flushed.

“Look, like this,” he says and puts one palm on the small of her back and other on her abdomen. Warmth seeps through her. Ben is always so warm, his hands are effectively heating pads in their own right. And the sheer size of them. How come she has never noticed it before? He could probably span her whole waist with his two hands. Rey blushes.

“Better?” he asks earnestly, his big brown eyes look at her with concern. She takes a moment to check her feelings.

“Yes,” Rey answers with surprise. Somehow the warmth of his hands calmed down the feral creature in her uterus. Ben smiles.

“See? Let me find the heating pad for you.” He takes away his hands and to her shame Rey whimpers at the loss of contact. He frowns.

“You all right?” Her cheeks heat up in embarrassment.

“Yes. It’s just… Could you… please, do this again? For a little bit? Until my meds kick in?” Ben smiles.

“Of course. Let’s just… Will this be OK?” He doesn’t exactly manhandle her. It requires force, brutality, and Ben is gentle. How can a man his size be so gentle? He simply arranges her to his liking with a soft touch laying her on her side and spooning her. His whole length presses against her back, his chest is firm and warm behind her. Ben’s huge arm snakes around her waist and oh, it’s good. _So good._ Rey sighs.

“OK?” he whispers, his mouth is so close to her ear it makes her shiver.

“Mhm.”

“Good.” It is. As long as the wolverine inside her doesn’t move she _is_ good. Rey closes her eyes.

Her eyes snap open. It takes her a moment to understand where she is. Her head is resting on Ben’s biceps, his other arm is still around her. It is significantly darker outside which means she has been out for at least a couple hours. Her abdomen is miraculously quiet.

“Ben?” It comes out groggy.

“Are you awake?” he asks softly.

“Yes. Thank you.” He lets her go and Rey immediately laments the loss of his warmth. “You didn’t have to do it, you know. To stay with me.” Ben blinks then stares at her as if she has grown a second head.

“I don’t like seeing you in pain.” There is nothing special about this statement. No sane person likes seeing the other hurting. But the way he says it, the way he looks at her so candidly makes Rey’s chest tight. It feels like a confession of something. Like revelation. Maybe that is the reason why she surges on her knees and place a kiss on the corner of his mouth. It’s not even a real thing, just a ghost of a kiss, more a peck on his cheek than on his lips and yet Ben looks completely dumbstruck. Rey smiles.

“Thank you.” He looks at her like a confused but hopeful puppy. She shivers and somehow it snaps him from his trance.

“Are you cold?” Before Rey has a chance to answer Ben has already tugged off his sweater and is wrapping her in it. It’s huge and warm and smells like him and it’s almost as good as its owner. Not quite though. “Are you hungry? I was going to order in.”

“Chinese?”

“Yeah.” He smiles sheepishly. “Food and movies. Sounds good?” It does. The world is full of good-sounding things. Snuggling with Ben on the couch. Stealing his sweaters. Waking up in his arms. Sharing meals with him.

“Yup,” Rey says and then adds, “it’s a date.” Ben stills, his wide eyes are on her.

“A _date_ date?” She raises her eyebrow.

“Is that a problem?” Under her stare he dumbfoundedly opens his mouth, then closes, then opens again. And then he grins. His face is split open into a huge brilliant smile and Rey can’t help but mirror it.

“Nope,” Ben says finally. “It’s a date.” And then he leans down and kisses her again. 

Cycle is definitely not a highlight of her month. But as Rey, warm, contented, well-fed and properly cuddled, leans on the broad chest of her recently acquired sweet, understanding and considerate boyfriend she thinks she could deal with everything. Even cramps. 

**Author's Note:**

> You know that feeling when you plan to write one thing and then write something completely different? Yep, that's it. I have a rough draft of modern Beauty and the Beast AU (as if we don't have enough of those) and I have an outline for a cooking AU I've been sitting on for ages, not to mention Promises. Oh, and there is also a Rebecca AU and a Great Expectations AU and so on and so forth. But I post this instead. Who is the most logical person in the world? Not me.


End file.
